The first pitch of the 2010 baseball season at Sportsman’s Park will be thrown out today as the Southern Oklahoma Invitational gets underway.
A field of five teams including Altus, Blanchard, Cache, Noble and host Duncan will play in the round robin format tournament. Noble and Cache open the SOI at noon today, followed by Noble and Altus. Duncan will host Altus in the final game on day one at 5 p.m.
Blanchard and Cache will play in the first game on day two at 2 p.m. with Duncan versus Cache to follow. The final day of the tournament will have four games, beginning with Cache and Altus at noon. Blanchard will take on Altus at 2:30 p.m. Duncan will play in the final two games of the day against Blanchard at 5 p.m. and Noble at 7:30 p.m.
Duncan coach Darren Briggs is excited to not only be hosting the tournament, but also playing at home for the first time this season.
“We have four tough ball games in the next three days,” Briggs said. “We’ve been called the road warriors because we haven’t played at home yet. So far, we’ve had 16 games on the road.
“You get home late at night, then turn around and have school early in the morning. I’m tired, we’re all tired and I didn’t think it’d be that big of a deal. But all of that takes a toll on your body and catches up with you after a while.”
Now, the Demons will enjoy hosting teams in their own ball park.
Duncan began the season 3-3 before a 1-3 road trip during Spring Break at the Alabama-Oklahoma Challenge. Since coming back from Alabama, Duncan has ripped off six straight wins to improve to 10-6 and a No. 11 ranking, according to OKRankings.com.
Briggs has yet to determine his pitching rotation for the weekend. Tyler Wilkins and Christian Thaxton are day-to-day, according to Briggs. Wilkins suffered a pulled hamstring against Noble and Thaxton was hit in the face while covering second on a pick-off attempt against Lawton.
“Tyler went to a doctor in Tulsa [Wednesday] and I’m waiting to hear from him,” said Briggs. “Christian had an X-ray, but even if it’s a fracture, there’s nothing he can do but let it heal. Their status is pretty much up in the air at this point.”
Altus dropped Duncan 13-8 earlier this season and enters the tournament with a 7-6 record. The Bulldogs are ranked No. 17 in Class 5A and have won five of their last seven games.
The Demons have also already seen Noble this season. The Bears enter the tournament with a 7-9 record and will only play three games due to the high school’s prom Friday night. Duncan defeated Noble 5-1 in a game that Briggs said took his team a while to get going.
“Noble threw a quality lefty at us and we had some trouble against him,” he said. “They’re a very competitive team and I look forward to seeing how we play against them this time around.”
Blanchard is ranked No. 5 in Class 4A with an 11-4 record. The Lions’ only loss in the state of Oklahoma came on the road at Dale, which is ranked No. 3 in Class 2A. Blanchard lost three games in a tournament in Arizona.
Duncan and Cache squared off earlier this season with the Demons coming home with an 8-1 win. Briggs said that Cache was missing a few starters at the time due to the basketball playoffs that were on-going. The Bulldogs are 10-6 and ranked No. 17.
— Ben Whitehead is a sports writer for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 255-5354, Ext. 165, or via e-mail at ben.whitehead@duncanbanner.com.
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Ben Whitehead
Time to play ball at Sportsman's Park
Duncan set to host Southern Oklahoma Invitational
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